Travelers' diarrhea.

Abstract

This chapter provides details on diarrhea as the most frequent health problem encountered by persons going from industrialized to developing countries. It discusses travelers' diarrhea (TD), which is defined as the passage of three or more unformed stools within 24 hours that is associated with nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain or cramps, fever, fecal urgency, tenesmus, or the passage of bloody or mucoid stools. It also looks at cases of TD that can be categorized by severity as being mild or severe. The chapter explains the possible etiologies of persistent diarrhea that include intestinal infection by protozoal parasites, such as giardiasis or cryptosporidiosis. It analyzes postinfectious irritable bowel syndrome, which is recognized as a complication of bacterial enteric infection that has been shown to occur in as many as 10 percent of people after an episode of TD.